SS 'Ewell' about to pass under London Bridge

SS 'Wandle' (1932) on her maiden voyage (cropped version)

SS_'Wandle'_(1932)_under_Southwark_Bridge,_London

SS 'Suntrap' (1940) at Woolwich bound for Nine Elms

A flatiron is a type of

coastal trading vessel Coastal trading vessels, also known as coasters or skoots, are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on the same island or continent. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where deeper-hulled seagoing ships usua ...

designed to pass under bridges that have limited clearance. Her mast(s) are hinged or telescopic, her funnel may be hinged, and her wheelhouse may also fold flat. Flatirons were developed in the UK in the latter part of the 19th century. Most were colliers built to bring coal from

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

and

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

and

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

s on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

that were upriver from the

Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were the ...

Development

Until the middle of the 20th century flatirons were built with triple-expansion steam engines. The largest steam flatirons were more than 1,550 gross register tons. The last steam-powered flatirons were built in the 1950s. By the middle of the 1940s flatiron

motor ship A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The names of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V. Engines for motorships were developed during the 1890s, and by t ...

s with

marine diesel engine Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electr ...

s were being built. The largest motor flatirons were more than 1,870 GRT and more than 2,800

deadweight tons Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provis ...

Fleets

Some of Stephenson Clarke and Associates' fleet were flatirons. William Cory and Son's fleet included at least one flatiron. The Gas Light and Coke Company's collier fleet included flatirons to serve its gasworks at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies on the River Thames, with Battersea to the west, South Lambeth to the south and Vauxhall to the east. The area was formerly mainly industrial bu ...

. The London Power Company's collier fleet included flatirons to serve

Battersea Power Station Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II* listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) ...

. The

Metropolitan Borough of Fulham The Metropolitan Borough of Fulham was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith to form the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was a riverside ...

had a flatiron fleet to serve

Fulham Power Station Fulham Power Station was a Fossil fuel power plant, coal-fired power station on the north bank of the River Thames at Battersea Reach in Fulham, London Station A ran from 1901, with station B opening in 1936, until their decommissioning in 197 ...

. The

Wandsworth and District Gas Company The Wandsworth and District Gas Company was a maker and distributor of coal gas in southwest London from 1834 until 1949. History The Wandsworth gasworks was built in 1834 on the Surrey bank of the River Thames near Wandsworth Bridge. Its supplied ...

had a flatiron fleet to serve Wandsworth Gasworks. When Britain nationalised its electricity suppliers in 1948 and gas suppliers in 1949, the new

British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...

(later the

Central Electricity Authority The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a r ...

North Thames Gas Board The North Thames Gas Board was an autonomous state-owned utility area gas board providing gas for light and heat to industries, commercial premises and homes in south-east England. The board's area of supply, encompassing , included parts of th ...

and

South Eastern Gas Board The area gas boards were created under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 enacted by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government. The Act nationalised the British gas industry and also created the Gas Council. History From the early 19th century ...

all inherited flatiron fleets from their predecessor companies. North Thames Gas had one diesel flatiron built in 1949 and the SEGB continued to have diesel flatirons built until 1956.

Decline

After the middle of the 1960s the need for flatirons started to decline. In 1966 gas suppliers started to convert from

coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

to North Sea natural gas, so that by the early 1970s coal gas gasworks were being closed and demolished. Secondly the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

reconfigured its generating capacity with small numbers of larger, more modern power stations away from the centre of London, which led to the decommissioning of Battersea A power station in 1975, Fulham Power Station in 1978 and Battersea B Power Station in 1983. By the mid-1980s the need to carry thousands of tons of coal on the Thames above the Pool of London had ceased. Redundant flatirons were sold to private shipping companies who used them as conventional coasters. By the middle of the 1970s several had ended up with Greek or Cypriot owners. One, the SEGB's MV ''Kingston'' (1956), was renamed ''Tsimention'' in 1971 and survived until 1983 when she was broken up.

References

External links

''Industrial Archaeology'', edition 147
Ship types Merchant ships History of the River Thames Transport in London

Development

Fleets

Decline

References

Further reading

External links